CHILE: CHUPACABRAS BEHIND AVIAN DEATHS?

Two families of the commune of Victoria were shocked after finding almost all of their farm birds dead inside their henhouses.

These two cases attracted our attention: the first one occurred on a property located a few blocks away from the city's town square in the early morning hours of Sunday. It was still possible to see the feathers of the dead birds scattered throughout the site. People who were in the sector at the time of the attack stated that they had gone to bed around 04:00 hrs without hearing any strange sounds. The first dead specimens were locked in a double-gated cage that was kept shut at night to keep poultry safe from predation by mice or cats. But this "creature" opened the gates to the cage, killing 10 birds. Afterwards, the strange mammal toured the two henhouses in the area killing everything in its way, leaving feathers in its path.

The second case occurred in housa located 3 blocks from the municipal marketplace in the downtown area of Victoria. This time, the birds showed clean wounds -- puncture marks in their extremities and under their wings, leaving their heads completely purple, without stains of blood on their plumage.

Luis González, owner of the property, remarked that there was no need for guard dogs, since the rooster played that role. The rooster kept strangers from approaching the henhouse, and its aggressiveness was such that the owners considered killing it more than once. But the cock's natural violence did not keep it from being killed by the "wild animal" together with six hens.

There are other strange cases that have drawn the attention of residents of La Araucanía, this time in the vicnity of Angol. One such case occurred while the city's jail was being built in 2000. A night watchman was doing his rounds when he saw a strange animal land on the hook holding the streetlight, bending it. The watchman managed to see "something" with wings measuring 1 meter, red eyes and completely covered in fur.

Oddly enough, after recording the presence of this animal,. reports of strange animal deaths from areas adjacent to the construction site -- on Javiera Carrera street -- began to be recieved. This went on for a week. The trail went could for a while until the attacks were renewed, this time in the Nahuelbuta National Park. Many larger animals were found dead there, such as horses, sheep and cows.

According to Erasmo Mera, president of IFOV (Victoria UFO Phenomena Research), "we have had five cases attributable to the Chupacabras and the incisions we found were on the wings. Other characteristics of these attacks are the absence of spilled blood. If you see one animal killing another, the killer shakes it, spilling blood everywhere. There were no traces of blood on the floor," he stressed.

What is strange about the events in Victoria and neighboring communities is that this animal, which allegedly attacks rural areas, is now acting in densely populated areas, namely backyards 400 meters distant from the central areas of any city, such as town squares.